The ChessBase crew continues its coverage from the Chess Olympiad in Samarkand, moving from the exhibition stand to the playing hall and capturing some of the atmosphere around the event. The latest vlog features reactions to the forthcoming ChessBase for Mac, behind-the-scenes work by the team, new guests in the “Off the Board” interview series […]
Monthly Archives: September 2026
The 24-player field for the Total Chess World Championship Tour Pilot in Budapest is now complete, with Levon Aronian, Le Quang Liem, Jorden van Foreest, Abhimanyu Mishra, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Andrew Hong joining the lineup. The FIDE-approved event, scheduled for 10–20 November, will combine Fast Classic, Rapid and Blitz in a single competition and serve […]
China and Kazakhstan reached the rest day as joint leaders of the Women’s Chess Olympiad with perfect 12/12 match scores. Kazakhstan edged Azerbaijan 2½–1½, while China beat Poland 3½–½ after the latter had defeated defending champions India in round five. India responded by overcoming the United States 3–1, while second seeds from Georgia also moved […]
In a previous article we described the genesis of this increasingly popular form of chess – and what the strongest ever player, Magnus Carlsen, thinks of it. Today we hear the opinion of another top grandmaster. In this remarkable interview you can listen to the view of Levon Aronian – but also on a number […]
Uzbekistan reached the rest day as the sole leaders of the open Chess Olympiad after edging defending champions India 2½–1½ in round six. Nodirbek Yakubboev (pictured) scored the decisive win from what had been an inferior position against Nihal Sarin. China and Armenia moved into joint second on 11/12 match points after beating Germany and […]
Bobby Fischer remains one of the most fascinating and enigmatic figures in chess history. IM John Donaldson, captain of the US team at the Chess Olympiad and the author of numerous books on famous and lesser-known chess personalities, is one of the leading experts on Fischer. He recently published a new book on the 1972 […]
Uzbekistan reached the rest day as the sole leaders of the open Chess Olympiad after edging defending champions India 2½–1½ in round six. Nodirbek Yakubboev (pictured) scored the decisive win from what had been an inferior position against Nihal Sarin. China and Armenia moved into joint second on 11/12 match points after beating Germany and […]
Robots solve puzzles more efficiently, but there’s a joy derived from unscrambling a Rubik’s Cube or mastering chess. This Telegraph article, by Judit Polgar and Erno Rubik, argues that as AI becomes vastly faster and more capable than humans at solving problems, we risk losing something more important than efficiency: the human experience of thinking, […]
India, Uzbekistan and Germany emerged from round five with perfect 10/10 match scores after winning their clashes against fellow co-leaders. Germany defeated top seeds United States 2½–1½, with Frederik Svane (pictured) scoring the decisive win over Hans Niemann, while India beat the Netherlands and Uzbekistan swept Hungary 4–0. China and Armenia drew 2–2 and now […]
Movement in Refuge is seeking further support to expand its chess programme for Rohingya children in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, after an initial FIDE-backed project reached young refugees in August. The charity hopes to raise $100,000 to bring chess to as many as 5,000 more children over two years, while founder Magnus Wolfe-Murray also plans to […]